~ Living life to the fullest while abiding in Christ

Monthly Archives: March 2012

The bi-monthly COC&I meeting was today at VFW 8787 just north of Braker on IH35. The meeting was well attended, by several hundred bikers from all over the greater Central Texas area. Debbie and I (well, Debbie really) assisted TMRA II fund raising by selling Freedom Dogs, with or without Chili. The COC & I and TMRA II organizations are both focused on protecting the rights of motorcyclists, so whatever political persuasion you might be, if you ride a motorcycle, then these groups are working for you, and we would love to have you help us by getting involved. We write letters, send emails, and we go down to the Capital to get to know, and talk with our political representatives. It is not difficult work, but the more workers we have, less each individual needs to do. Look for information tables at your local bike nights, or come out to our next TMRA II meeting. We get to gather for dinner and a meeting at La Palapas on the west bound frontage of 290 between 183 and IH35 every third Thursday at 7 PM. Hope to see you there.

Well, flying bug season is upon us, so our New Life Riders CMA chapter decided to have a Bug Run in support of CMA’s annual Run For The Son fund raiser that 100 percent supports ministry. Hardtails Restaurant in Georgetown was nice enough to let us host the event in their parking lot, so we could get good exposure to all their regular customers, not to mention that we got to enjoy their great food. We got kind of a late start advertising this first year, so the turnout wasn’t what you would call big, but we did get a few brave souls that rode our route looking for insects to smash into. If you don’t know what a bug run is, well it is simply that we put a target sticker on your headlight (after cleaning off any existing bug guts), and you drive around hoping to have some insects crash into your headlight square on the bullseye. As your an see from the photos, no one actually got a bulls eye, but some came pretty close. Anyway, if you missed it then yo missed a good time. Enjoy!

We had out first United Clubs Of Austin meeting of 2012 this evening. The motorcycle season is starting, and there were lots of events to announce. We also had four newly starting clubs/ride groups that are seeking to join UCOA. As is always appropriate in such a situation, we got the talk from Bam Bam on what UCOA is about, which is respect for each other and building relationships to gain respect by volunteering as needed, and participating in the events put on by our clubs. Did I mention that there were lots of events announced? You can go to the UCOA web site at; http://www.ucotexas.org/index_files/austin.htm and click on the calendar link which will take you here; http://www.localendar.com/public/UCOAaustin to see our growing calendar. So, without further delay, here are a few pics, mostly of the new people; Oh, yes, and one more thing, One of our newest clubs Citizens MC made a donation to our favorite charity the J. W. Rock Foundation and presented a check to One Wire the chairman of the foundation. Good Work Citizens MC !

Debbie and I went on a ride Saturday with out CMA chapter, to Gruene Texas for lunch. Turns out that Gruene had market days last Saturday, so we were there with about half of population of Texas. Fortunately, we did manage to find a nice restaurant that wasn’t too full, so we had a great lunch and headed back around 3pm. We haven’t been out on the bikes in a while, so the round trip was pretty tiring, but we almost made it home when God decided it was time for a miracle. I was leading, as we exited 183 south, headed over to get on IH35. I signaled and crossed over to the right lane, just in time for the car in front of me to turn on his signal in preparation for turning into McDonalds. I slowed and waited for him to start clearing the lane, then went around him. I was just in time to see Debbie braking hard in front of me to make a right into the Taco Bell next door. Unfortunately, I wasn’t going slow enough. I slammed on the brakes, rear wheel locked up and started sliding. I let off the brake a bit so I wouldn’t lose it, and slammed into Debbie’s left rear saddle bag bracket. Man those things are rugged. Hitting Debbie reduced my speed enough so I could actually come to a stop and put down the kick stand and get off without falling over. Debbie wasn’t quite so lucky, she was almost stopped when I hit her, and pushed her into the curb a foot or so ahead of her. When she heard the squealing brakes, she thought it was hers, so she straightened up the bike so she wouldn’t fall over, then felt the shudder when I hit her. Running into the curb was enough of a surprise that she lost her balance and toppled over. By this time I was getting off my bike and running over to help her pick it back up. We came out of the event pretty unscathed, Debbie got a bruised knee and shin, from where they hit the tank as she was stepping off the falling bike and I’m fine. The bikes have some cosmetic damage, i will need a new front fender, and Debbie’s bike will need to have the left saddlebag bracket straightened and a new left turn signal. All told, it could have been a whole lot worse, and after relaxing a bit at Taco Bell, we drove the bikes home without incident. I truly believe that God was watching over us, and it is fully possible that he allowed this to happen just so I could be an example for y’all. So now that you have heard this story, remember the title; Be Careful Out There!

We had out chapter ride today, we headed out to Gruene for lunch. Unknown to use, today was also Market Days in Gruene. Talk about a crowd. Anyway, we managed to find a nice place to eat called Buttermilk Cafe, a bit to the East of Gruene. The food was very good. From there, two groups of us headed back. One group led by Don and Susan headed West, and Debbie and I took the other group East out 21 to 183 then North. Everything went along fine until Debbie and I split off to go North on IH35, and then Debbie and I had a bit of an uh oh. We kind of over anticipated what the other was doing, and ended up in a minor collision with each other. I was leading, so naturally I rear-ended Debbie. If you can figure that out, you are a better man than I. Anyway, relatively minor damage was done to both bikes, as we were almost at a stop when we collided. Clearly it could have been much worse. As it turns out, Debbie got the worst of it. She has a sizable knot on her shin, which she has ice on. She says it is about the size of a mango. Not a papaya, bigger than an avocado. Kind of oval shaped. I am going to be waiting on her hand and foot.